Projects Interior upholstery finally

I like it. After bailing out of body shop jail, I’m going to have to do mine. You inspire me

 

The Armrests were another area of concern. If you followed my build thread back when you could see that I had made them from wood and shaped them to look nice.

I almost gave up trying to cover them with the same Upholstery fabric because no matter what I tried the cloth backed vinyl was too thick to wrap smoothly around small compound curved sections.

Finally I decided screw it ! Only the tops needed to be padded so I made a couple of small flat 1/8 “ ABS plastic pieces that would snap down on the top into two pieces of metal with holes for the same spring clips that I had used on the side panels. Two clips for each top pad.

I then sanded and painted the armrests and discovered that they were too glossy.

Took a trip to the automotive parts department and found some vinyl matt black wrap that came in 6” wide strips that were perfect match for the rest of the interior.

Once the armrests were wrapped I covered the top pads with the upholstery vinyl and 1/2” foam. (All the door panels were done with 1/4” sew foam.)

You might notice that the edge of the top armrest pads are trimmed with small black polyester cloth welting cord which matches the black binding on the carpets.

 

Looks great man

 

Very nice,looks professionally done!!

 

Looks good Larry! Not surprising given the quality of the rest of your build!

 

VERY NICE!

 

Looks real good. Thanks for the disclosure o the arm rests, and use of OEM floor mats. We often convert to weather fighting type floor mats right away, and have brand new originals kicking round.

 

nice!

 

Looking great Larry... I'll bring over my Rod so you can finish my interior

 

Looks great! Hope I get to see it in person this year.

 

How did you attach the arm rest to the inner body panel? Maybe you attached the arm rest to the door panel before you installed the pad? Very well done!

 

Man. You are the real deal!

 

I’ll be out to the Sherwood park Tuesday gathering a few times I think.

 

Holy smoke, is there no end to your talent??
I think I can count on one or two fingers the folks I know who have done their own interior.
Superb work on those armrests too!

 

The armrests are secured with screws from inside the panel. The top pads are snapped down into place and I attached them before popping the panel in for the final time.
Details on how I made the panels and the armrests are here in my build thread.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/26-t-roadster-pick-up-build-thread.460009/page-29

 

I did see it there probably 4 or 5 years ago. It's a beautiful hot rod. Hope to run across you this year there too.

 

Excellent work as always. I like the shifter boot and trim. Nice touch.

 

Great finishing touch to a beautiful little car. Nice work….. again.

 

Hey, get in line!!!

 

This is one upholstery shop that isn’t having a grand opening
Sorry guys.
I’m retired and I’m not looking to start another career.

 

Just a stellar job! Congrats!

 

@Blue One I agree that you have done a fine job, especially for your first.
I'll mention something that you are probably fine with, because of the car and the design.
Most arm rests also act as a handle to close the door but not here. You have a nice door top to grab.

If anyone is copying this for their car, realize OEs continue to have fasteners going from the handle area into the door inner structure so the force is spread and the door card isn't constantly pulled on.
You see all these single piece molded door cards from the 70s up to now and they still have the screws where they get pulled on.
Try to include this rather than just attach the feature to the card if you are going to be pulling on it. Notice this has no 'cup' to grab.

 

Awesome!

 

Damn nice Larry !!!!

 

So a little side note, as they say if you’re not making any mistakes then you aren’t doing anything.

After doing my upholstery and having the panels popped into place I kept looking at one spot that just didn’t look to be seated properly with the clip.

Now these spring clips are great they really hold well however you really need to be sure that both of the points are aligned into the mounting hole before giving each of them a smack with your closed fist to pop them into place.

So I removed the drivers side seat today and popped the rear side panel partially off and sure enough the clip circled had folded over and not snapped into place.

Now as strong as these spring steel clips are they don’t take to being straightened once they’re bent they typically snap off.

So off came the panel and a new clip was installed.

The whole thing took less than 2 hours and it’s all good now the lesson learned was make sure to line the holes up with the clips started in each hole.

 

Any chance you entered the car in the Calgary world of wheels show at the end of this month? Would be nice to see it in person.
.

 

No I didn’t, never really considered doing that.
Maybe I’ll do that in the future.
I’ve only taken it to local shows and cruises stuff like that.
I did haul it out to Vancouver island in 2020 to take my father for a ride when I first got it on the road.
Glad I did because dad p***ed away the following year.
I’ve mostly just been enjoying driving it myself.

 

Since the weather has improved I’ve had it out to several cruise nights and over to my buddy Dave’s house.
The interior has changed the whole feel and character of the car.
It’s taken away a lot of the tinniness and rattles its much more refined feeling.
That’s if a rumbling exhaust open top hot rod can ever feel refined
It’s even more fun to drive now.

 

Awesome! I’m always surprised which things make a big difference in interior sound/ feel. Glad you’re out cruisin!

 

very very nice job! your inspiring me to buy a sewing machine to finish up my coupe.